THE PROMISE

— No... a demon? We're... doomed... said Sempai, sweating in fear.

Igris, terrified, looked at the demon in horror.

Sempai grabbed Igris's hand, pointed at a street, and shouted:

— Come on, let's run that way!

He had barely started running when the demon suddenly appeared in front of them, a mocking smile on his lips:

— Already trying to leave, my friends? But I barely had time to kill one of you. It's not very polite to leave without saying goodbye, you know?

The demon took a combat stance and added with a cynical voice:

— Let me give you a hug!

Then, with blinding speed, he attacked, his two hands closing in like pincers, aiming to slice Igris and Sempai into pieces.

Sempai reacted instinctively—he grabbed Igris and pulled back with equally impressive speed. As he moved, he felt a burning sensation on his right cheek. He touched it and realized he had been scratched. He let go of Igris and, with a determined expression, declared:

— Igris, run! You can survive!

— What? What do you mean? There must be a hunter somewhere, so I'm not leaving! Igris replied, panicked.

Suddenly, a silhouette appeared in the street: a man in armor, sword in hand. A blue cross adorned his left cheek—a sign that he was a level B genius assassin.

Seeing him, Igris regained hope and called for help:

— Sir! We're here! Come help us!

But as soon as the man laid eyes on the demon and met his demonic smile, his face froze in terror. Panicked, he stepped back and stammered:

— No... no... not me... I can't... I can't fight them...

Igris couldn't understand. How could a man with a sacred mark abandon them? It was inconceivable. In despair, he shouted:

— Why? Why is he running away?

Then, what he saw next filled him with intense hatred... The kind of hatred only a God Slayer could have.

His eyes fell on a severed hand on the ground. His heart clenched when he recognized a watch attached to the wrist—the watch of Sempai. He lifted his gaze and saw his friend on the ground, his arm torn off, struggling to speak despite the pain.

— Igris... go... I'll distract him...

— No! I can't leave you! And your hand... Igris stammered.

But before he could finish, Sempai interrupted him:

— Go on, I'll stay. You know my dream is to become a great demon slayer. Even if my mark is still black, that means I'm level E, right? Even if... even if I'm not at the level of a real class E and I'll never be able to save the world...

He turned to Igris one last time and, with a big smile, added:

— At least let me save my best friend.

Then, he looked at the demon and shouted:

— Run, I'll distract them!

With determination, he charged at the demon.

— NO, DON'T DO IT, SEMPAI! Igris screamed, tears in his eyes.

But Sempai, using all his assassin speed, leaped onto a wall to gain momentum and roared with clenched fists:

— GO TO HELL, YOU DAMN DEMON!

However, what happened next surpassed anything Igris had ever seen in movies or battles between demons and humans...

Before his eyes, his best friend was impaled by the demon.

Igris watched the scene, terror-stricken. His voice trembled as he murmured in his head:

— N... no... th... this can't be real... Sempai...

The demon looked at Sempai, still impaled on his hand, and sighed in disappointment:

— Tsk... another human who wasn't even worth it. I thought I'd have some fun… I should've stayed in Yggdrasil… I came all this way for nothing.

With a careless gesture, he tossed Sempai's lifeless body against a wall.

— SEMPAI!! Igris screamed in horror.

His friend was dead.

The demon turned his attention to Igris and said in a bored tone:

— You're not even worth killing. I'll let you live… but next time, it will be different.

Igris, consumed with rage, got up and charged at the demon, shouting:

— DAMN DEMON!!!

He tried to hit him, but with a simple backhand, the demon sent him flying down the street. Igris immediately rushed back, yelling:

— You killed my best friend… I won't let you walk away alive!

The demon sighed and, with another blow, violently slammed him to the ground.

— Why don't you listen? the demon growled, hitting him again. Leave. I don't want to kill you... You disgust me.

Igris, despite the blows he was receiving, kept trying to stand up.

— I'll kill you… And after that, I'll kill every other demon… I won't leave A SINGLE ONE!

The demon chuckled and delivered an uppercut. As Igris was lifted into the air, he followed up with another strike, crushing him into the ground.

Standing over him, he pressed his foot on Igris's face and taunted:

— See? It's impossible for you to kill me. I am infinitely stronger than you.

Then, with a cruel smile, he added:

— Alright… You want to kill me to avenge your insignificant friend?

Igris, furious, retorted:

— DON'T TALK ABOUT HIM LIKE THAT!

The demon pinned him to the ground with a violent kick and continued:

— Tsk… Stop yapping.

He looked up and sensed several presences approaching. He sighed:

— Ugh, too many people… And when there are too many people, I lose my edge.

He crushed Igris's face under his foot one last time, then stepped away with a mocking smile:

— We'll meet again in three days, right here, at the same time. If you win, you'll get your revenge… and my power. But if I win, and I will… you'll experience a slow and painful death.

Then, without leaving a trace, he disappeared

He tried to get up, but in vain. He dragged his body little by little, despite the pain. He kept moving forward, vomited blood, then resumed his march. When he reached Sempai's lifeless body, he began to cry and murmured:

— I'm sorry, Sempai... I'm sorry... I couldn't help you... Sorry...

Then, his gaze changed. A cold determination and a murderous gleam took hold of him.

— But I promise you one thing… I will avenge your death, and I will show those Demon Slayers that they are useless. I swear it to you, my friend.

Suddenly, he heard footsteps approaching. Looking up, he saw several Demon Slayers arriving. They all had blue-colored marks, a sign that they were Class B. Among them was a woman with a crescent-shaped mark on her right shoulder, indicating that she was a healer. She approached and healed all of Igris's wounds in a matter of seconds before gently asking:

— Young man, are you okay?

Igris stared at her with dark rage and, without thinking, threw a punch at her with all the anger he had accumulated. However, the team's tank blocked his attack and shouted at him:

— Oh, kid! What's wrong with you?!

Igris got up, his eyes filled with fury, and shouted angrily:

— Bunch of useless cowards! You're hypocrites who wait for the demon to leave before acting! You're worth nothing! I saw one of you run away while my best friend was being killed!

The team leader placed a hand on Igris's shoulder and replied calmly:

— Kid, I understand your pain, but there was nothing we could do for your friend. If a healer had been there at that moment, maybe he could have…

— STOP IT! Igris cut him off, furious. There WAS one! But because you're all cowards, he ran away like a rat when it sees a cat!

His gaze then fell on Sempai's hand, lying on the ground. Slowly, he picked it up, then took his friend's ring and watch. Clutching these items in his palm, he declared in an icy voice:

— I will avenge you, my brother… I swear it…

Suddenly, he saw his mother running toward him, panicked.

— Igris! Igris! Are you okay? Nothing happened to you?

Igris lowered his eyes to the ground before answering in a cold tone:

— Mom, can you call Sempai's mother… and tell her that he's dead?

Then, after a brief silence, he added:

— For the next three days, I won't be going to university… I have something to prepare.

He then turned on his heels and headed home, his heart filled with hatred. One single thought occupied his mind: kill that demon.